Filed under: TUAW Tips
TUAW Tip: Put your hard disk in your Dock
This
is the inaugural post for a new daily segment that we will be doing here at TUAW. The cleverly named 'TUAW Tips' will
feature a tip that will help you use your Mac more effectively everyday. This tips will run the gamut from beginner to
expert, so you may not be wowed by the tip every day but keep in mind that TUAW has a varied audience and someone out
there is bound to learn something.Today's tip is straightforward, and one of the first things I do when I get a new Mac. If you click on your Hard Disk icon (located on the top right of your screen), drag it down to the Dock (between the black line on the Dock and the trash) you will notice that your Hard Disk is now sittin' pretty in the Dock. Why would you want to do this? As you can see in the picture to the right, when you click and hold down on the copy of your hard disk in the Dock a menu pops up that lets you navigate your hard disk's contents right from the Dock, almost like the Apple menu of days of yore.
You don't have to stop there, if you want more direct access to your Applications folder, for example, you can drag that into the Dock as well. When you click and hold on the Applications folder in the Dock a similar menu pops up, but it only lists the contents of the Applications folder (or any other folder you wish to have down there, including the Desktop folder).
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Tom said 12:17PM on 1-25-2006
I always do this with the MS Office folder, so that I don't have to have 4 ugly Microsoft icons crowding up my dock.
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Andrew said 12:19PM on 1-25-2006
I do something similar, I place my Applications and Documents folders in the Dock, as well as a folder for Adobe CS2 and some of the XCode developer tools. In my Documents folder I also have aliases for Microsoft Office and iWork, just to make it a little easier. You can also right- or control-click on the drive/folder and the same menu pops up.
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Thomas said 12:20PM on 1-25-2006
I just use Quicksilver
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Adam said 12:25PM on 1-25-2006
I have always put the Applications folder in the Dock.
I find it useful for launching applications, although I use it less now that I have Quicksilver installed.
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Adam said 12:27PM on 1-25-2006
I think this kind of posts will do the site good. Tips are always welcome!
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Will said 12:32PM on 1-25-2006
I used to use this method (actually, my Home and Applications dirs are still sitting in my dock, just untouched). I sometimes drag downloaded apps from my desktop into the Applications shortcut on my dock. But for accessing inside, the delay in loading up the pop-up menu killed it for me, even on the fastest G4 powerbook. I now use QuickSilver for launching items that aren't already one-click away (even ones that are, if I don't want to reach for the mouse).
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scott cunningham said 12:39PM on 1-25-2006
I screwed up- Help! I went into Finder to drag my HD down, and accidentally deleted it. How do I get it back?
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shane said 12:43PM on 1-25-2006
Great Freaking tip!
I keep my Applications folder down there, so I don't have to drill down to find an app that I don't want in the dock.
This gives me a few ideas to clean up my dock.
Shane
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Josh Caffrey said 12:45PM on 1-25-2006
Thanks for the tip, but one question. Why do I get 2 extra items in my list?
"mach" and "mach.sym"? What are those and can i get them to not show up?
thanks.
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Will said 12:48PM on 1-25-2006
Scott, I assume your hard-drive icon still lives on your desktop okay? If not, you probably dragged it into the trash, just drag it out again by clicking on the trash in your dock.
If you mean that you dragged the link out of the sidebar in your finder, you can get it back by dragging the desktop hard-drive icon into any Finder sidebar window, up above the separator line, and it should be back in place.
If it's some other disappearance, let us know, and we'll get it back.
This is one of the major items that needs help in the Finder. There are too many aliases and links that aren't first-class representations of their real object. And to make matters worse, they don't look like links, so it's hard to tell what the behavior will be when you move things between the desktop, sidebar, dock, Finder toolbar, etc.
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xavier said 12:51PM on 1-25-2006
I also put my home and applications folders in my dock, it's also usefull to quickly drop files and apps to these folder just by dragging them.
(a shame the tree does not expand when you drag a file.)
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Miikka Luotio said 1:08PM on 1-25-2006
Better yet, if you dont want all your HD contents or all Applications to show, just make a new folder and put aliases of all the stuff you want to have in there, then select a comfy icon for the folder and drag it to your dock. Voila, its yer own menu there.
Personally as a graphical artist i have all GFX related apps like that in the dock, menu loads up fast and is quite handy, also the icon is cool :D
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DrWho said 1:18PM on 1-25-2006
It's so obvious - yet i never thought of doing that - doh! Thanks!
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systemsboy said 1:24PM on 1-25-2006
I wanted to add that, once the list pops up, typing the first few characters will jump to the item you want, just like in the Finder. This is handy if, for instance, you have a long list of items in your Applications folder. Type "v" and the focus will jump to the end of the list, in my case to the VLC app. Hitting "return" will open the folder, app, or whatever is selected.
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Nothing said 1:30PM on 1-25-2006
After the Intel chip, the "Start" menu... :]
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tdungan said 1:31PM on 1-25-2006
Scott, open preferences in Finder, go to the "Sidebar" pane and check off "Hard Disks". When you drag an item from the sidebar, Finder assumes you want to remove it. If you want the hard drive in your Dock but don't have it displayed on your desktop, you will need to enable it from the "General" pane in Finder preferences. After you have placed in on your Dock you can remove it from your desktop again.
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Darren said 1:31PM on 1-25-2006
Rather than putting the applications folder in the dock I just changed Finder or open up the applications folder when it opens everytime. One less item on the dock.
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tdungan said 1:46PM on 1-25-2006
Not to come off like an A$$ or anything. But wouldn't it make sense to make the category "Tips" then go back and tag CK's "Tiger Tips", "Terminal Tips", and "Switcher Tips" with the new category?
Gee, maybe then we could have a subdomain like tips.tuaw.com which would be perfect for an RSS subscription.
Just an idea.
...I thought you might have already planned that so I tried the URL above and noticed "Coming soon." But then I realized it says the same thing for porn.tuaw.com. Unless you're working on that too!!!! - one could only hope
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Aron T said 1:48PM on 1-25-2006
Personally, I prefer to have my Home folder instead of the HD. It contains a lot more of the files that I use on a regular basis. The main reason I ever use the HD is to access my Applications and I have that sitting right next to my Home.
This is just my personal taste, but it is grood (great AND good) to see the dock getting some love!
=aron=
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Peter Garner said 1:53PM on 1-25-2006
I do this and have even used it on occasion. For the applications folder trick to be of any use, you either need to have a fast processor or a small Applications folder. If, like me, you're both running a mini and are addicted to downloading freeware, it's not such a good idea. ;-)
In any case, count me among the number who use Quicksilver almost exclusively for launching apps and opening and moving files. Mice are so 80s.
I look forward to future installments.
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